It was the crazy announcer. Lenne Hardt is the shit. She’s still around doing Dream stuff. Nobody can call a name like she can. I personally loved when she called Shogun or Wanderlei’s name. Bad. Ass. Even though her voice probably wouldn’t go well with the UFC product, I’d love to hear her scream out some of Zuffa’s fighter’s. She could always get me pumped up for fights. I remember when I’d come across some Pride fighter I had never heard of, but once she called his name, I’d be like, “I have no idea who this is, but that was cool.”

In my limited experience, it’s certainly factually true (though the wording is funny because of the backhanded “America has no shame” implication…). Though I would go on to say that shame as it is thought of in America and Japan are very different. It seems to me that shame in the North American sense is all about “Oh, what will people think of you?”, which is really contradictory to the individualistic, “LOVE ME OR HATE ME, I’M GONNA BE ME!” attitude that is also a strong part of the North American tradition. As my Japanese friends have described it, shame in Japan is associated with an almost-material loss of face. It’s not just about what others will “think” but about what position a shamed person will be relegated to in a social sense. That being said, shamed people aren’t sentenced to pick up garbage or set adrift on an ice flow, but there remains a strong feeling that striving for personal perfection causes advancement in life, while shaming oneself (even if it is only known to oneself) closes doors. There is also a metaphysical part that I don’t really understand. It’s an interesting concept regardless.

A bit odd since you can’t refute “most” by a small handful of examples that weren’t. That’s sort of the point of using “most” instead of “all”. Hell it’s easy enough to point to the fact that several of the “non puroresu” guys also did some pro wrestling in Japan. It’s not a crock it’s just the fact that there is no pro wrestling stigma there thus it’s a very easy cross over to make. Arnold’s point is talked through a lot more in the part that isn’t quoted here.